It has been exactly one year since the last presidential election. In the past 12 months We have seen clearly what a huge difference it makes who gets elected to the powerful positions in the House, Senate and the White House. The political climate has changed so abruptly and so drastically, especially for the immigrant communities in 12 months.
I have lived in central Jersey since 1965. I got involved in local and state politics when in 1987 I saw a gang of misguided white youth called Dot-busters harassing Indian men, women and children in Jersey City. Upendra Chivukula (former NJ Assemblyman) and I started NJ Chapter of "Indian American Forum for Political Education". We worked hard to free New Jersey of such racial bigotry and harassment. Over the span of three decades, we thought that gradually we had made so much progress that ugly incidents of stark racial hatred would never surface again in New Jersey.
But thirty years later, we were jolted to see the recurrence of such racial hatred in a central Jersey town. Two Asian Americans, Jerri Shi and Falguni Patel, were running for the School Board in Edison, the central Jersey town with the highest Asian American population. A week before the election, a flier was mailed to large sections of Edison Township proclaiming "MAKE EDISON GREAT AGAIN - Stop Jerri Shi & Falguni Patel from Taking Over our School Board. The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town! Chinese School! Indian School! Cricket Fields! Enough is Enough!" Passport size pictures of Jerri Shi and Falguni Patel were stamped "DEPORT".
The incident did arouse the Asian American community. Nine candidates vied for three open seats on the Board. But, in such a tough election, both Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel won and will serve a three-year term on the School Board.
Not only that, Asian Americans helped elect Vin Gopal to New Jersey Senate, Raj Mukherjee to Assembly and Ravinder Bhalla (an Indian American Sikh with full beard and turban) as Mayor of Hoboken, a large affluent and influential town across Hudson facing New York City and several council seats in towns across NJ.
It shows that the general public is gradually accepting educated Indian Americans - even with foreign sounding, non-Christian names. Brown color and traditional garb is not as big a deterrent as it used to be. I expect that with these victories, more Asian Americans will get involved in school boards, town councils, and state level elections next year.
While it is great that we have more and more Asian American elected officials, but make no mistake: none of them will stand up to the racial prejudice suffered by Asian American students in college admissions. Elected officials need votes from blacks, whites and Hispanics, so they cannot afford to antagonize the NAACP and other powerful organizations.
Only 80-20 stands out as an Asian American organization that has taken the high road to rid America of racial bias in college admissions. If you want a level playing field for your children in college admissions, please support 80-20.
